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Friday, 4 December 2009

What did you learn at school today?

30 down, 70 amazing tunes to go;

70. Daz Samspon - Teenage Life - 2006Kym Marsh or Anthony Costa? What an appealing prospect...as the British media hyped up the fact that one of these acts would be representing the UK at Eurovision in Athens 2006, I was more certain that rapper Daz Sampson, famous for UK hits such as Kung Fu Fighting, Rhinestone Cowboy, Out Of Touch and others, would walk off with the prize. A cheesy ode to schooldays with a charming schoolgirl chant chorus sung by an aging yet nostalgic chav. It was always going to be the UK's favourite. Sure enough it was and the song went to Greece - Daz pranced around in a ridiculous yellow jacket - and we finished near the bottom of the leaderboard as usual, but at the very least it did better than Jemini and Javine and gave Daz another UK top ten hit, the biggest UK Eurovision hit for 7 years!!! My favourite UK entry of this decade, shamefully...

69. Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL - Everybody - 20012001's Eurovision had some classic songs, but none moreso than the hilariously unpopular winner from Estonia. A bizarre disco song - a lanky white Estonian 20 year old and a large Aruban man in his 50's teamed up with a young vocal harmony group called 2XL and the result was a brilliantly uplifitng song about getting up, dancing and enjoying yourself. Generally regarded as the weakest Eurovision winner of the noughties, it's one of my favourites - it was one of my ANTHEM's of 2001, a brilliant singalong song which was one of the favourites to come last and shocked just about everyone when it stormed to victory ahead of great pop songs from France, Denmark and Greece. Who did I vote for? Estonia of course!!!

68. The Veronicas - 4ever - 2006

Aah The Veronicas, twin sisters Jessica and Lisa. One of 2009's biggest breakthrough acts in the UK, this song going top 20. Lovely, but it first came out in Australia way back in 2005!!! I first heard of The Veronicas right at the start of 2006 and this was one of my favourite songs of that era. I liked being the only one that knew about them. Even when their second album came out in 2007 led by Untouched of course, nobody outside of Australia and music forums knew who the hell they were. Until this year when they finally broke through, and deservedly so of course, but I can't help thinking that this song, a catchy in-your-face Kelly Clarkson like pop-punk song, would have done a hell of a lot better in 2005 than in 2009...seeing as it was technically from 2005 and sounded quite dated when it finally came out here...

67. Alice Deejay - Will I Ever - 2000

My favourite song of the 1990's was Better Off Alone by Alice Deejay, and follow up Back In My Life was probably in my top five 90's songs. So when I saw their album in Virgin for £17 on import in May 2000, I bought it, despite it using up practically all of the money that I had!!! First listen and I loved it, but the undeniable standout and obvious choice for third single was the extremely catchy Will I Ever, much more cheery than the quite dark Better Off Alone and Back In My Life despite a similar lyrical topic. A #6 hit in the UK and their last really successful song, it's a shame as it really was and still is an absolutely excellent pop dance song that I think has been unfairly pushed to the back of people's memories.

66. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor - 2001

Just over a year after her victorious chart battle with Victoria Beckham where her collaboration with Spiller, Groovejet, topped the charts, Sophie Ellis-Bextor launched her solo career. Slightly removed from the indie of her previous band theaudience, the album, Read My Lips, still had some indie elements to it but the singles were as retro-disco as they come. Cher cover Take Me Home was a good lead single but she excelled with the follow up, Murder On The Dancefloor. A shiny pure pop song complete with a memorable chorus, Sophie's quirky southern English singing accent and a brilliant video, it was easily the highlight of her solo career and a huge hit for her as well, deservedly!!!